Give the deal a dated path to signature.
“The deal feels close but nobody has dated a path to signature. How do I build one with the champion?”
Builds a close plan with the champion: milestones, owners, dates, and exit criteria, written to send.
What this skill does
Builds the plan that gets a deal from today to signed, jointly, with your champion. It lays out the milestones between here and signature, puts a name and a date on each one, and states the exit criteria that prove the deal is actually moving. It writes the whole thing as something you can send, so the buyer commits to real steps instead of vague enthusiasm.
Inputs
- Works today with: the deal basics you can paste, the target close date, the steps you know are coming (legal, security, procurement), and who is involved. The skill turns them into a dated, owned plan.
- More powerful connected to a CRM: it reads the close date, the stage, and the contact roles, so the plan lines up with the deal the pipeline already believes in.
- Sharper connected to a meeting or email tool: it pulls what the champion already agreed to, so the plan reflects commitments, not hopes.
How it works
- 1Backward from the signature date
Start at the target close date and work backward, placing each milestone so the whole chain lands on time with a buffer. If the steps do not fit before the date, the date is the fiction, and the plan shows it now instead of at quarter end.
- 2An owner and a date on every line
Every milestone has exactly one owner and one date. "The team will handle legal" is not a plan. "Champion sends the agreement to legal by the 14th" is. A line with a missing owner or date is flagged, because that is where deals stall.
- 3Exit criteria, not activities
Each milestone states what proves it is done, not just that it happened. "Security review complete" is an activity. "Security signs off in writing, no open items" is an exit criterion. The plan tracks the criteria.
- 4Shared, not sent one way
The plan is built with the champion and owned by both sides. Half the milestones belong to the buyer. That shared ownership is the test: a champion who will not take a single dated step is telling you the deal is not real yet.
- 5Written to send
The output is drafted as something the buyer reads, reacts to, and edits. Concrete steps give them something to push back on, and the pushback is where you learn what the deal actually needs.
Output format
MUTUAL ACTION PLAN · illustrative deal · target sign: end of quarter
# Milestone Owner Date Exit criteria
1 Confirm success criteria AE + champ day 0 Written, both agree
2 Business case to committee Champion day 5 On the committee agenda
3 Security review IT / vendor day 12 Signed off, no open items
4 Legal + redlines Legal day 20 Redlines resolved
5 Procurement + PO Procurement day 26 PO issued
6 Signature EB day 30 Contract signed
Flags:
- Milestone 2 owner is the champion. If they will not take it, the deal is not real.
- No date yet on procurement contact. Get the name before milestone 3.
Tips
- No milestone without one owner and one date. Blanks are flagged, not hidden.
- At least one buyer-owned step early, as a live test that the champion will act.
- Exit criteria are written as proof of done, never as "in progress."
- The chain fits before the close date with a buffer, or the date is flagged as at risk.
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